Avery Dennison and M&S extend RFID partnership

Avery Dennison and M&S extend RFID partnership
- Avery Dennison has supplied almost one billion RFID tags to M&S so far
 
- Expansion of use to be completed by spring 2014
 
Avery Dennison and UK-based retail chain Marks and Spencer (M&S) are to expand their nine-year RFID supply partnership.
 
RFID partners since 2003, M&S and Avery Dennison have worked together for nine years to create specific RFID tags that are fully integrated into a complete range of labels and tickets.
 
To ensure that the correct product mix is available in its stores and online, M&S has expanded its use of Avery Dennison’s RFID technology to all clothing and home wares. The roll out will take place throughout all departments in the course of 2013 and will be complete by spring 2014.
 
Prior to implementing RFID, M&S relied on optical scanners to track inventory – using barcodes to scan a maximum of 400-600 items per hour. RFID allows merchandise to be accurately scanned at up to 15,000 items per hour.
 
Avery Dennison has supplied almost one billion RFID tags to M&S with no data loss or duplication. The tags can be read when an RFID scanner is up to a meter away, making the inventory tracking process faster and more efficient.
 
In the future M&S plans to expand the use of RFID scanning throughout the supply chain to increase accuracy and speed of distribution.
 
‘Having accurate stock information is a driver for our whole business, especially when it comes to multi-channel,’ said Kim Phillips, head of packaging at M&S.
 
‘The RFID partnership with Avery Dennison is allowing us to replenish stock from the distribution center more accurately, making more garment sizes available to more customers and continuing to prove its value over and over again.’
 

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